Pallet for stacking articles



March 29, 1966 R, F. BEST ETAL PALLET FOR sTAcxING ARTIGLES Filed Feb. 1, 1965 lNvzNTos RoNnLD FREEmcK zsT owEN 'HENRY PARKER United States Patent 3,242,'884 p PALLET Fon STACKHNG AR'rrcLEs lRonald Frederick Best and Owen Henry Parker, both of Solent Road, New Doeks, Southampton, 'l-lampshire, England p Filed Feb. 1, 1965, Ser. No. 429,414 Claims priority, application VGreat Britain, Apr. 17, 1964, 15,967/ 64 2 Claims. (Cl. 108-53) This invention concerns pallet means for supporting and 'stacking articles such as cartons and other boxes 'of cube or .parallelopiped form, which for simplicity will be referred to herein as rectangular articles all sides, of course, being rectangular. It is a common practice to employ a re-usable pallet, generally of Wood, sometimes metal reinforced, on which articles are stacked'for internal factory, warehouse, storeroom or other comparatively local transport. With tall stack's of articles such as a pallet is used to divide the Stack into smaller Sections for convenience of handling. When the pallets are 'brought to Vtheir destination, such as to a storeroom or delivery van, -they are -unloaded and returned for further use. Pallets are lfrequeritly used with fork-lift trucks where again, after serving their purpose, they are 'themselves stacked forfurther use.

It will be appreciated that the use Zhitherto of pallets involves first of all'an vinitial expense, secondly the time and labor of unloading the pallets and returning them for further use, and also in lrestacking the larticles at the delivery point, and thirdly the use of space for stacking and housing the pallets. The object of the invention is to cut down considerably the initial expense of 'pallets, to save the aforesaid time and labor, and to provide a Shell of insignificant cost of an expendable or throwaway Character which can be quickly fitted Snugly around a few articles (as reinforcement) to constitute with the articles a satisfactory pallet, and of which the Shell can be Stored in flat Sheet form to occupy very limited space when compared with existing pallets. The said shell is built up on the spot from a rectangular Sheet of stout cardboard, millboard, papier-mache, or other equivalent material 'such as a cheap plastics substance, which have a stiff flexible Character, capable of folding.

According to one aspect of the invention it consists of a method of supporting and stacking a plurality of similar rectangular articles, which consists of folding a rectangular Sheet of cardboard or equivalent material into a channel configuration having a flat horizontal rectangular base with Vertical right-angular parallel side walls spaced apart substantially as wide as the width or length of that of one or a multiple of the said articles, inserting articles in the channel to span the width between the walls and to form a flat horizontal top surface, folding each of the walls horizontally outwardly substantially on a level with said top surface, and then making reverse folds to form double-ply wings outwardly extending from the respective top edges of the side walls, said reversely folded portions being inwardly brought towards one another over and in contact with the said top surface, the whole constituting a pallet having an expendable Shell reinforced by one or more articles, for supporting a Stack of the said articles, said rectangular sheet having a plurality of fold lines or equivalents to facilitate the folding Operations.

It is advantageous to insert two or more articles in the channel to abut one another and also to abut the channel walls, and to make a final downwardly folded lip on the extremity of each reverse fold, so that said lips can be tucked in between two abutting sides of the inserted articles.

3,242,884 Patented Mar. 29, 1966 "ice According to another aspect of the invention, a shell of cardboard or equivalent material 'is provided for vuse as an expendable element in the formation of a pallet for supporting and stacking articles according to the foregoing method, said Shell :consisting of 'a rectangular Sheet folded into a channel'configuration having a flat horizontal rectangular base with Vertical -right-angular vparallel side walls each of which terminates at the same height `in an 'outwardly directed horizontal Wing each having a reverse `fold making a double-ply, said reverse `folds .e'x-

tending towards one another-over the 'top of the channel. The said reverse folds can each 'be made with a downwardly extending lip for tucking in as aforesaid.

In order that the said -invention may be readily under- Stood an embodiment thereof will be described in greater detail by `Way of example with the aid of the accom- :panying drawings wherein:

'FIGURE 1 shows a blank in the form of a rectangular 'sheet of cardboard or equivalent, with fold=lines 'indicated thereon in dot-and-dash lines, 'from `which ^a shell emiployed in 'the invention lis `constructed;

FIGURE -2 shows in end view ashell made up from the Sheet according to FIGURE 1, and reinforced to form a pallet 'by three articles which abut'one another and also abut the side wall-s of the 'shel1;

FIGURE 3 is an exploded view, in persp'ective,-of'some of a Stack of articles superimposed over a `pallet according to FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 4 is a front elevation of a Stack of articles including a basic pallet according to FIGURE -2, and two intermediate pallets used to divide a tall Stack into several 'Sections each convenient for handling.

In the illustrated example the rectangular articles denoted generally by the reference numeral 1, which are to be stacked, are shown to be oblong in plan and their small ends 1a in some places are indicated by diagonal lines marked thereon.

An expendable shell of cardboard or equivalent by which a pallet is built up is Seen, designated generally by the reference 1b, as reinforced by a single layer of articles 1 lying lengthwise in a channel thereof (described later herein) as Seen in FIGURES 2, 3 and 4.

The cardboard or like Shell 1b is made from an oblong blank as seen in FIGURE 1 having parallel fold lines 2, 3, 4 and 5 made by impressions, scorings, perforations or equivalent at right-angles to an edge across its small dimension. This is folded about the lines 2 into a channel configuration having a flat horizontal rectangular base 7 lying between the two fold lines 2, 2 with two Vertical right-angular parallel side walls seen at 6 lying between the respective pairs of fold lines 2, 3 and 2, 3. Each of the side walls 6 terminates at the same height in an outwardly directed horizontal Wing 8 lying between the fold lines 3 and 4. It will be seen that the wings 8 are of double-ply which is formed by a reverse fold 9 commencing at the fold line 4 and extending inwards to the fold line 5. In the example a downwardly extending lip 10 is made at each end of 'the blank between the fold line 5 and edge of the blank for tucking-in use as hereinafter described.

The method of utilising such a Shell in the formation of a pallet will now be described. The articles 1 are similar rectangular articles as depicted in the drawings, and in the example are oblong in plan having long upper and lower faces and small end faces 1a.

A rectangular Sheet of cardboard or equivalent as seen in FIGURE 1, which is provided with a plurality of fold lines 2, 3, 4 and 5 as already described is first folded into a channel configuration having the flat horizontal rectangular base between the fold lines 2 and Vertical rightangular parallel side walls 6 which are Spaced apart subnel.

'between two abutting sides of inserted articles.

aaa-2,884

i 3 stantially as wide as the combined width of three of the small ends 1a of the articles. inserted in the channel lengthwise-see the base arrangement in FIGURE 3-to spam the width between the walls 6 and snugly fit therebetween. The transverse depth of the sheet from back to front, i.e. the dimension vertically appearing in FIGURE 1, is sufiicient to take two rows of the articles (six in all). Each of the walls 6 are completed by folding them about the fold lines 3 horizontally outwardly. As the shell 1b is designed with the dimensions of particular articles 1 'in view the fold lines 3 are spaced from the fold lines 2 a distance substantially equal to the height of the articles. Thus this outward folding -which produces wings 8 is substantially on a level with vthe top surfaces of the three articles inserted in the chan- Reverse folds are then made to form the wings 8 in a double-ply manner, and the reverse folds are brought inwardly towards' one another as at 9 over the channel 4and in contact with the top surfaces of the articles therein. 'When a plurality of articles have been inserted in the channel, the lips 10 zmay be downturned and tucked in If only two articles abreast have been inserted, then both the lips maybe tucked in 'between the same pair of abutting surfaces. If only one article (i.e. in one row) is used to span between the walls 6, then the lips 10 may be omitted (or left to lie flat).

The expendable shell and insert of articles form a fairly rigid pallet for the support and stacking of articles as shown in FIGURE 4 wherein successive layers can be laid -on an area extending between the two outside fold edges 4 as seen in the drawings, and as usual with oblong articles, those in adjacent layers can be turned at right angles to one another for bonding as in brickwork,

We claim:

1. A pallet comprising a single-piece cardboard mem- Three of the articles areV` ber consisting' of a horizontal fiat rectangular base, two identical Vertical rectangular side walls upstanding one from each of two opposite boundaries of the base to constitute with the base an open channel of rectangular cross section, two identical horizontal rectangular fianges each extending outwards one from each of the upper boundaries of the side walls, and two identical horizontal rectangular flaps each extending inwards towards the other from an outer boundary of one of the fianges to beyond the inner 'boundary thereof, and within the channel a removable closely packed assembly of at least two flat-based articles each of rectangular section in any Vertical plane which is normal to the side walls of the member, the Vertical dimension of each article being equal to the height of the side walls of the channel and the horizontal di-mension of the assembly in said Vertical plane being equal to the horizontal dimension of the channel in the same Plane.

2. A pallet as claimed in claim 1 wherein from the inner boundary of each fiap there extends a Vertical flap downwards towards the base of the channel and between adjacent Vertical walls of the articles.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,56l,210 11/1925 Booraem 206-46 1,922,560 8/1933 Sullivan 206- 46 2,489,054 |11/1949 Sprolle 10'8-51 X 2,720,323 10/1955 Hoiles 214- 105 2,896,798 7/1959 Celley 214-105 2,962,l63* 11/1960 Else 206-65 3,066,8l1 12/1962 Board 214-152 CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Primary Examiner.

FRANK B. SHERRY, Examiner.

G. O. FINCH, 'Assistant Examiner. 

1. A PALLET COMPRISING A SINGLE-PIECE CARDBOARD MEMBER CONSISTING OF A HORIZONTAL FLAT RECTANGULAR BASE, TWO IDENTICAL VERTICAL RECTANGULAR SIDE WALLS UPSTANDING ONE FROM EACH OF TWO OPPOSITE BOUNDARIES OF THE BASE TO CONSTITUTE WITH THE BASE AN OPEN CHANNEL OF RECTANGULAR CROSS SECTION, TWO IDENTICAL HORIZONTAL RECTANGULAR FLANGES EACH EXTENDING OUTWARDS ONE FROM EACH OF THE UPPER BOUNDARIES OF THE SIDE WALLS, AND TWO IDENTICAL HORIZONTAL RECTANGULAR FLAPS EACH EXTENDING INWARDS TOWARDS THE OTHER FROM AN OUTER BOUNDARY OF ONE OF THE FLANGES TO BEYOND THE INNER BOUNDARY THEREOF, AND WITHIN THE CHANNEL A REMOVABLE CLOSELY PACKED ASSEMBLY OF AT LEAST TWO FLAT-BASE ARTICLES EACH OF RECTANGULAR SECTION IN ANY VERTICAL PLANE WHICH IS NORMAL TO THE SIDE WALLS OF THE MEMBER, THE VERTICAL DIMENSION OF EACH ARTICLE BEING EQUAL TO THE HEIGHT OF THE SIDE WALLS OF THE CHANNEL AND THE HORIZONTAL DIMENSION OF THE ASSEMBLY IN SAID VERTICAL PLANE BEING EQUAL TO THE HORIZONTAL DIMENSION OF THE CHANNEL IN THE SAME PLANE. 